


Although it's so Romantic on the Borderline, Tonight

by ofinfinitesspace



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, Just don't think too hard about when this happens in terms of ...canonical events...or time., M/M, The kind of fluff that will give you cavities, With some sardonic Booker to cut it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26733400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofinfinitesspace/pseuds/ofinfinitesspace
Summary: “What could possibly be happening in there that I can’t handle? Are Joe and Nicky doing it in the middle of the kitchen?!” Nile asks in mock horror.From under her arm, Andy groans, “it’s so much worse.”In which, Joe and Nicky dance and Booker is a bit of a dick about it. But it's sweet?I put Billy Joel's "Vienna" on a JoexNicky playlist and then sodiumflare gave me the image of them dancing to it and I cannot be held accountable for my actions. This is just cuddling porn. Also, I wanted more Nile-referencing-contemporary-century-pop-culture-in-her-internal-monologue.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 2
Kudos: 141





	Although it's so Romantic on the Borderline, Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I do recommend listening to the song as prerequisite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccRif2DaGs

When Nile gets back from the grocery store, Booker is sitting on the steps to the house smoking a cigarette that looks like it was rolled before 1815. Andy is leaning against the side of the steps, her head even with Booker’s hips. She has her arm slung over her eyes and looks like she’s trying to nap. Of all the things that don’t make sense about immortality, Andy’s sleep schedule is the biggest mystery.

“You don’t want to go in there, ma chère,” Booker sneers.

“Why not?”

“Trust, him, Nile,” Andy mutters without raising her head or moving her arm. “I wouldn’t recommend it in any situation except this one. Trust. Him.”

“What’s going on? Is someone hurt?”

“Just don’t do it,” Booker continues, “there are things in there you can’t unsee.”

Now she’s worried, imagining gruesome deaths and dismembered bodies. Booker catches the concern on her face and flashes a grin paired with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“What could possibly be happening in there that I can’t handle? Are Joe and Nicky doing it in the middle of the kitchen?!” she asks in mock horror.

From under her arm, Andy groans, “it’s so much worse.”

Nile rolls her eyes, gingerly side-stepping Booker as she moves up the stairs, but making sure the grocery bag gently whaps him in the face as she passes. She marches determinedly through the door and toward the kitchen, when Billy Joel’s voice reaches her ears from the record player that sits on the border between the kitchen and the living room.

_But then if you're so smart, then tell me_

_Why are you still so afraid?_

From where she’s standing, Joe and Nicky could have become one person, as if the regrowing powers had gotten horrifically, if understandably, confused. They might have once been dancing, but now all the tension that dancing requires has fled. Joe holds Nicky’s left hand in his right, fingers intertwined, hands dangly by their sides. He presses close to Nicky, quietly drifting his other hand up and down his back.

_But you know that when the truth is told_

_That you can get what you want or you just get old_

Nicky’s free hand grasps at the back of Joe’s head, his face buried in Joe’s neck, their shoulders exactly even.

It’s not like she hasn’t seen them tangled up before. Even after easy deaths - Jesus, has she already started to think like that - Joe clings to Nicky like he’s drowning and Nicky’s a door too small for two. But that’s not what this is. They’re not holding _on,_ they’re just holding, swaying slightly to the music like it’s an after thought to whatever is passing between them now.

_Too bad but it's the life you lead_

_You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need_

Realizing that she has been standing watching them unnoticed for far too long, Nile lightly drops the grocery bags on the floor, announcing herself with a gentle thud.

Nicky raises his head and smiles at her full are warmth, no shame or embarrassment anywhere to be found. He disentangles himself and announces “Niles' home,” like she’d been gone for years and traveled miles, instead spending a half an hour at the corner store.

_When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?_


End file.
